Researchers Create High-Resolution Atlas Of Human Brain.

The New York Times (6/21, Gorman, Subscription Publication) reports, “Researchers in Germany and Canada have produced a new map of the human brain…that shows a three-dimensional reconstruction of a human brain in unprecedented detail.”

The AP (6/21, Ritter) reports, “To make the atlas, researchers sliced a cadaver brain from a 65-year-old woman into 7,400 thin sections, stained them to reveal tiny features, and photographed each one.” The researchers “then…used computers to combine the data into a 3-D digital model.”

The Los Angeles Times (6/21, Healy) reports, “The BigBrain atlas, produced after a five-year effort, was hailed by neuroscientists as a technological tour de force that promises to speed discoveries in an increasingly important field.”

The Washington Post (6/21, Kim) reports, “The atlas creators, who are from Canada and Germany, have made the ultrahigh-resolution model – 50 times more detailed than a typical scan – publicly available in a free online format.” The research was also published in Science.

The CNN (6/21) “The Chart” blog reports, “Researchers who study neuroscience can use BigBrain to simulate how a brain develops normally or how it degenerates in conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, said Alan Evans of the Montreal Neurological Institute at McGill University and senior author on the paper.”

The Time (6/21, Sifferlin) “Healthland” blog reports, “The reference brains that have existed before have generally not been able to provide microscopic level detail, and have stopped at about 1 mm resolution, the limit of MRI images.” But, “BigBrain…has the potential of providing a better understanding how the brain’s cells are assembled and interact with each other.” Also covering the story are AFP (6/21) reports, HealthDay (6/21, Goodman), BBC News (6/21, Ghosh), and MedPage Today (6/21, Smith).